Curiouser and Curiouser
Updated: Jun 9, 2021
Training teaching artists and mentoring artists of all ages and at all stages of their trajectories is very much part of the fabric of what we do at ART YARD BKLYN. I was thrilled when a few months ago our student August Levenson (who is currently in High School) asked if perhaps he could lead a session of ART YARD Advanced Studio.
August worked very hard on his lesson! Compiling a very interesting and quirky mix of artists for his PowerPoint presentation. His lesson plan was well written and thorough. August even wrote an original narrative to use as a guided meditation and inspiration for the work we created using pen or pencil in his session. Dressed in his Salvador Dali t-shirt, August was clear and engaging as an instructor. He stayed true to form for critique which was buoyant, thoughtful and filled with laughs.
August sums up the session: “In my class Curiouser and Curiouser we explored various forms of weirdness in art, better put as forms of surrealism and neo-surrealism through our art history, looking at stranger artists who, while still having a name for themselves have pushed the boundaries of collective normalcy extensively. These included the likes of Jean Michele Basquiat, Edward Gorey, Ed Rath, Mark Ryden, and Salvador Dali.
The assignment was primarily focused on pushing your boundaries using minimal color and little to no color, all in pen and pencil. I used some imaginary verbatim, telling a confusingly mystical story of descriptions to better suit people to the mind frame of the assignment. The assignment in question was to create a piece of art in pen or pencil with minimal color involved and take something or any form or aspect of my story and illustrate it, intentionally to push one's limits or boundaries in one creative process. This led to an ultimate flurry of creativity as people misheard parts of my story, pushed boundaries and themselves to create a surrealist piece of work, really entering the idea of the work, to work backward to move forward. The work was truly magnificent.”
If you look carefully at the artwork collectively you can pick out images and concepts from August's story -- what can you find?
Congratulations and thank you August for an exceptional session of ART YARD Advanced Studio!
It was an exciting day for ART YARD Art Matters at PS 282 as Teaching Artist Vera Tineo and I zoomed into kindergarten and first grade in person classes! We loved working with our new students and classroom teachers!
Vera presented the first session in her cycle The Shapes of Our Community. With her own work serving as the springboard for the session, Vera asked that students to look carefully at their reference photographs to find the shapes which made up the portrait. Students first sketched those shapes in pencil and then colored their work with the material of their choice.
When I complimented first grade teacher Ms. Valerio on the work of her students, she replied that she is "a firm believer children should be engaging in opportunities to explore the arts." Brava, Ms. Valerio!
Shape portraits by first graders: Aria, Nate, Mya, Liam, Taylor and Nico:
Shape portraits by first graders: Lily, Djuna, Julissa and Joshua:
Kindergarten teacher Ms. Lescure writes: “The children loved having an art class and enjoyed learning how to make people through shapes. They also loved being creative by making their pieces a little abstract. The children created amazing pieces depicting themselves, animals, and other people. Their creativity quite evident in the colors they used.”
We followed our classroom lessons with now familiar virtual classes, bringing art lessons to PS 282 students working remotely.
Coco painted a portrait of her teacher Ms. Sarah. June made a self-portrait. August created an elaborate portrait of an imaginary character. Emma painted Coco with careful depiction of her donut patterned blouse.
We had some nice drawings of self-portraits with family members - Lucy and her sister and Logan and her brother, and Miles with his brother & grandparents.